27:12 Do not turn me over to my enemies, 3
for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me. 4
35:11 Violent men perjure themselves, 5
and falsely accuse me. 6
56:5 All day long they cause me trouble; 7
they make a habit of plotting my demise. 8
1 tn Another translation would be “they suborned” (but this term is not in common usage). “Instigate (secretly), suborn” is given by BDAG 1036 s.v. ὑποβάλλω.
2 tn Grk “heard him”; but since this is direct discourse, it is more natural (and clearer) to specify the referent (Stephen) as “this man.”
3 tn Heb “do not give me over to the desire of my enemies.”
4 tn Heb “for they have risen up against me, lying witnesses and a testifier of violence.” The form יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) is traditionally understood as a verb meaning “snort, breathe out”: “for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty” (KJV; cf. BDB 422 s.v.). A better option is to take the form as a noun meaning “a witness” (or “testifier”). See Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3.
5 tn Heb “witnesses of violence rise up.”
6 tn Heb “[that] which I do not know they ask me.”
7 tn Heb “my affairs they disturb.” For other instances of דָּבָר (davar) meaning “affairs, business,” see BDB 183 s.v.. The Piel of עָצַב (’atsav, “to hurt”) occurs only here and in Isa 63:10, where it is used of “grieving” (or “offending”) the Lord’s holy Spirit. Here in Ps 56:5, the verb seems to carry the nuance “disturb, upset,” in the sense of “cause trouble.”
8 tn Heb “against me [are] all their thoughts for harm.”